When installing carpet, hardwood floor or other type of floor covering, both the removal of existing floor covering (including preparation of the floor surface) and the installation of the new floor covering is facilitated by having easy access to the floor surface, and in particular, the floor surface near to walls.
Access to the floor surface may not be easily or quickly achieved, particularly in an office setting, because of the presence of furniture and other obstacles positioned across the floor surface.
It may not be convenient to empty the room of the furniture, since there may not be an alternate and convenient space in which the furniture to be removed may be stored. Furthermore, it may be difficult to move the furniture, especially if all of the furniture is being moved through doorways and openings and there is the possibility of damage to the room walls and doorways and to the furniture itself. Still further, the process of emptying a room of furniture may consume considerable resources, in terms of time, cost and human power.
In an office setting, the task is often further complicated by the division of a relatively large space into cubicles and offices through the use of a plurality of interconnected partitions or dividers across the floor surface. Clearing the space thus involves, prior to and in addition to the removal of the furniture, dismantling and removal of the wall partitions. Beside the difficulty discussed above in connection with the movement of furniture, which is also the case in connection with the movement of the wall partitions, additional complications arise. For example, the walls may be populated with shelves and personal knick-knacks to be removed, catalogued and stored prior to dismantling the walls.
More significantly, the layout of the wall structures into cubicles and offices is often complicated and may not be easily replicated after the floor covering has been installed without a clear and detailed map. Still further, because the walls are relatively interdependent, there may be a pre-determined order of disassembly and/or reassembly that will avoid unintentional collapse of the entire cubicle structure. In any event, additional human power may be called for in order to ensure avoiding such collapse.
An alternative that may be suitable in many cases of installation of floor coverings is to temporarily move the furniture a short distance away from its present location and elevate the wall partitions. In many instances, moving the furniture by approximately five feet away from a wall or corner and elevating a number of the wall partitions a few feet above the floor surface may provide sufficient access to allow the existing floor covering to be removed, the floor surface to be prepared and the new floor covering to be installed.
There are a number of partition lifting and moving devices disclosed in the prior art. Typically they have a partition engaging portion, such as a foot ledge that may engage the bottom of the partition, that may be urged upwards by an extension mechanism.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,655 entitled “Workstation Panel Lifting Bracket” and issued Aug. 3, 2004 to Beese discloses a workstation panel lifting bracket adapted to be mounted to a jack to raise a workstation panel off the floor a sufficient distance to allow for access beneath the panel. The bracket comprises a generally horizontal top plate that is adapted to be mounted to the jack. A leg extends downwardly and forwardly from a forward edge of the top plate. Preferably, the leg forms an angle of about 80° to about 85° with the bracket top plate. A foot extends forwardly from a bottom end of the leg. An upwardly turned lip is preferably formed at the end of the foot. To provide stability to the bracket, jack, and panel during raising and lowering of the panel, the bracket also includes a brace on the leg. The brace has a front surface and opposed side surface. The side surfaces are generally triangular in shape, and the brace front surface is in a plane substantially perpendicular to a plane of said top plate. Preferably, the brace front face is approximately as long as the leg.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,670 entitled “Apparatus for Lifting Furniture in Place to Install Floor Covering Beneath It” issued Jun. 29, 1999 to Cain discloses an apparatus for lifting furniture in place to install floor covering underneath the furniture. The apparatus comprises a plurality of lifting assemblies. Each lifting assembly includes a substantially vertical piston and cylinder assembly. A piston rod is attached to each piston. The piston rod extends from the upper end of the piston and cylinder assembly and a substantially L-shaped member is attached to the piston rod. A pressurized fluid control system is constructed and arranged to uniformly supply pressurized fluid to the lifting assemblies; whereby, the lifting assemblies act together to simultaneously lift furniture in one movement when pressurized fluid is uniformly supplied from the pressurized fluid control system to the lifting assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,187 entitled “Apparatus for Lifting or Supporting Modular Furniture” issued Oct. 29, 2002 to Dubé et al. discloses an apparatus for lifting or supporting modular furniture panels having accessory hanging tracks with apertures, including a support having an upright shaft and a lifting jig movable on the shaft. The lifting jig has a support plate for engaging the underside of a panel, and an angle bracket above the support plate has a series of undercut hooks for engagement with apertures of a hanging track so as to positively locate the jig in relation to the panel. The angle bracket has an inner flange parallel to and attached to a front face of the lifting jig and an outer flange projecting perpendicularly from the front face and having the hooks. The inner flange is provided with horizontal slots which are engageable by screws which extend into said front face of the lifting jig and which allow lateral adjustment of the bracket relative to the lifting jig. The slots have enlarged end portions which allow the bracket to be removed from the lifting jig upon loosening of the screws, so that the bracket may be removed and repositioned in inverted position without removal of the screws; in inverted position the hooks can directly engage the hanging tracks.
A number of jack systems make use of a pin locking mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,672 entitled “Collapsible Jack Stand and Method Therefor” issued Jun. 29, 1999 to Dickey discloses a highly portable collapsible jack stand. The jack stand is comprised of a plurality of leg members. Each leg member is detachably coupled to a top guide plate which is used to support and align a telescoping rod. A ram head is coupled to the telescoping rod and is used for supporting a load. A base plate is detachably coupled to the plurality of leg members. The base plate prevents the jack stand from sinking into the ground when the jack stand is in use and under a heavy load. A low profile jack may be positioned underneath the telescoping rod for raising and lowering the telescoping rod thus raising and lowering the load on the jack stand apparatus.
UK Patent Publication No. 2 190 962 entitled “Lifting Jacks” and published Dec. 2, 1987 to Sarra discloses a jack having an elongatable jack body comprising a pair of telescopically mutually slidable members forming a housing, a fluid pressure ram positioned within the housing such as to force elongation of the jack body in use, and a locking fork having arms positionable in holes in a first member to engage a second member to form a mechanical barrier against shortening of the jack body. The jack can be operated from the hydraulic fluid system of a tractor.
There remains a need for a simple lifting apparatus for elevating a wall partition which does not suffer from the limitations of the prior art.